The Planets – Ra Uru Hu – Introduction

The planets play a key role in the design of who we are. In fact, everything is based on the movements and impact of the planetary spheres.

The key to understanding the impact of something as distant as a planet on our lives is a tiny, subatomic particle known as the neutrino. Neutrinos are extremely fine matter produced by the nuclear reactions within stars. All the stars, including our own Sun, are producing neutrinos all the time. The stars out in space are constantly beaming these neutrinos at us, and being made of such fine substance, the neutrinos can pass through our bodies, as well as the body of the Earth. Imagine then, how the movements of the planets around our Sun refract the neutrino information as it passes into us.

Planets vary greatly in density and makeup. Some consist of solid rock, whilst others consist purely of layers of gases. Every planet also has its own mythology as perceived by man. Our mythologies are, and always have been, our method of attuning to our greater body.

The planets are our local programming agents. This is why we have always seen them as the gods in our mythologies down the ages. Every planet lends its flavor to our nature.

Sun – Our Light – Yang

Here on Earth, scientists have estimated that 70% of the neutrinos that pass through the Earth come from our Sun. The remainder comes from either Jupiter or the stars in deep space. Thus, 70% of all the neutrino information that we receive is seen in the position of our Sun and Earth. The Sun represents the primary yang force of our nature. It is the archetype of the Father, just as the Earth is the Mother. The Sun and Earth are the prime yin/yang within us all. The Sun creates the electromagnetic field of the solar cell in which we live. The design Sun represents the bio-genetic themes inherited from our father. If you look at your own design Sun, you will see the theme that you have inherited from your father. The personality Sun is the window through which the very light of who we are shines out on the world.

Earth – Our grounding and stability – Yin

Whereas in traditional Astrology there is no Earth, Human Design begins with this basic duality of the Sun/Earth. Because of this, many attributes given to the Moon and Venus in astrology actually belong to the Earth. The Earth represents the archetype of the Mother. In Human Design calculation, the Earth is always exactly opposite the Sun and, as we have seen, together they represent 70% of our programming. The Earth is where we find our grounding and is our gravitational home. The energy of the Sun has to be translated by the Earth. In other words, the neutrino stream is grounded through our bodies. The Sun/Earth relationship is thus the relationship between energy and matter. Just as the plants on the Earth convert the Sunlight into chlorophyll, so we humans ground the solar energies through our lives. The more grounded we are, the clearer our light will shine.

Moon – What drives and moves us

The Earth / Moon relationship is an extraordinary one. There is no existence, as we know it without the presence and influence of the Moon. If not for the Moon, there would be no land and thus no terrestrial life. The Moon creates the gravity field on our planet in order that we can stand up and so that plants can grow upwards. The Moon also pulls the tides of our oceans. Since our bodies are 70% water, one can imagine how the Moon might affect our own rhythms as deeply. Many people are unaware that the Moon also magnetically pulls on the Earth. In the mystical sense we all have a lunar body, for our geometry is conditioned by the nodes of the Moon.

The Moon is truly what moves us. It is a driving force. Mythically, in Design, the Moon is the eldest Daughter. She carries a responsibility to both Mother Earth and Father Sun. The Moon is able to take the place of the Father as a source of illumination and makes possible the task of the Mother to drive and move the form, thus ensuring evolution.

Mercury – What must be Communicated

According to popular mythology, Mercury is the winged messenger of the Gods. Some mystics have even referred to Mercury as the older brother of the Sun. These myths are rooted in information transference. Geographically, Mercury is closest to the Sun and thus metaphorically has its ear.

In Human Design, Mercury has a unique role in programming the Personality Crystal, from the time it enters into the body until birth. This is because Mercury has a revolution around the Sun of 88 days, thus it has a direct correlation with the 88/89-day period during which the personality crystal is programmed. In this context, Mercury is God of the mental plane and as such is the ‘creator’ of the Maya. However, on the mundane level, Mercury always points to essential concepts needing expression.

What we need to communicate creates a pressure within us. We are after all communicative creatures. So the specialized Mercury themes can be important for us to express.

Venus – Our Values

Venus is an archetype that can be miSunderstood. Unlike her counterpart, Mars, she is subtle and contradictory. The fact that Venus is generally linked to themes of love, art and beauty is a testament to how tricky she can be, for there is another hidden side to her nature.

Certainly there is truth in the attributed relating capacities of Venus and the importance of the Venusian influence on art. However, there is a darker side to Venus the lover. It is Venus as executioner.

She was worshiped by the Mayans as the ‘eye’ and placated with ritual mass executions at her rising. Friday, Venus day, is still the day of punishment and execution in the Islamic world. She is truly a force to contend with. Where the Moon holds on to the past, like the footsteps of astronauts that will remain the same for a relative eternity, Venus rushes headlong towards the flames of the Sun in every moment.

If we think about the prevailing myths of Venus and Mars as male/female archetypes, it is actually Venus who carries the fire of rebellion. Mars is cool iron. It is either the values that Venus desires to impose, or the values that she challenges that can give direction to Mars’ fury. She is not here to maintain traditions. She is here to maintain female power. Values are more powerful than laws. Through the position of Venus, we can see the basic values. Venus shows us what values will dominate.

In Human Design, the female archetype is expressed through three conditioning variations: Earth, the Mother, the Moon, the eldest Daughter, and Venus, the youngest daughter. As the youngest, she is the worldly daughter, not caught in the responsibilities of the eldest Daughter who is driven to maintain the traditions of the Mother. It is the youngest Daughter who brings rebellion, and the mutation of set values, out of experience.

Mars – Immaturity

Mars is not to be fooled with and is hard to avoid. We can see his impact in either the exaltation or the detriment of an astounding 61 of the 64 gates. Only the 20, 8, and 7 are free from his influence.

These ‘missing’ gates speak clearly to Mars’ true nature. Mars is passive until aroused. It is passive in the sense of lethargic. It is a misleading myth to see Mars as an active force. It is however, an uncontrollable force once it gets rolling. In the trinity of Yang roles, the Sun is the father, Mercury is the eldest son (being the father’s reflected light) and Mars is the youngest son, free of responsibility.

Through the missing gates, Mars is an immature energy, unable to contribute (8) leadership (7) in the now (20) but it is a force to be dealt with, once prodded into action, and this is where problems can then arise. Like a great ship at sea, once you get them going it is hard to slow them down whether they are on the right course or not. It is often thought that this term immaturity applies to the personality. This term is applied exclusively to the energy. Once prodded, Martian energy quickly builds momentum at the expense of awareness. In our mythological tradition, it was this very capacity that so enamored it to the warrior cults. Mars is not a pacifist but is generally indifferent to combat. However, once recruited, its capacity to build momentum can result in a mindless savageness where the most basic inhibitions can be overwhelmed by energy.

Jupiter – Law and Protection

In astronomical and physical terms, no object other than the Sun exerts greater influence in the solar system than the massive body of Jupiter. Jupiter is in fact a mini-star system in itself a ‘proto-star’ with its own Moons. It even creates neutrinos in its nuclear core. If it weren’t for Jupiter, the Earth would not abound with life. Jupiter’s huge magnetic field protects our planet from extra-terrestrial objects such as asteroids and comets. For these reasons, Jupiter has always held a special place in our mythologies. Jupiter is the King of the Gods, the generous bringer of laws and High Protector of Earth.

In Human Design, Jupiter represents our own personal laws. Wherever Jupiter is in your chart, this is the law that you must obey in your life. Take for example, someone who has the 37th gate in their design activated by Jupiter, it is their law to offer their friendship and to honor others. Naturally it will depend on the line as well as the emotional wave, but their law is that they must offer their friendship. So where you see Jupiter in your chart this theme is very important for you. This is a law that you have to honor, and if you do, Jupiter rewards you for it. That’s the whole thing about honoring a law; in the end you get your reward.

Where the cycles of Saturn impact on our inner development, the more frequent cycles of Jupiter (approx. every 11+ years) define our outer development and our relationship to others as well as to the whole. Jupiter is symbolized by the ancient mythic figure of the hierophant, the one who brings the law, carving it into stone. Yet metaphorically, as in the Moses myth, the tablets get shattered every cycle and a new law is built upon their remains. It was discussed earlier that Venus establishes the values that Jupiter will turn into law. Obviously the values of a twelve year old and a twenty-four year old are going to be different and the rules or laws they must live by, will have changed. Each Jupiter cycle brings such changes. The fluid values of Venus, which are based on aesthetics, are hammered into stone with the import of each new Jupiter cycle. This is not the abruptness of a revolution but a naturally evolving transformation. This is a particularly important impact in a transit. Whenever Jupiter in transit creates a definition in your chart, it signals a time of potential transformation and the beginning of a new process. This is very significant when the Jupiter activation is linking a split Definition or connecting a Projector or Reflector to either the Sacral or the Throat.

Saturn – The Judge

Remember that every chart holds together through its genetic continuity. It doesn’t matter whether all these planetary aspects are connected to each other. So the Venus gate is going to show us where our morality lies and Jupiter is going to turn that morality into a law. Now we come to Saturn. Saturn is the Judge and it brings us judgment in the gate where it lies.

Consider how these planetary aspects work together. If you break your own law in Jupiter’s gate, you don’t get punished there. The Saturn activation actually punishes you, wherever it is in your design. If for example, someone has Saturn on the 49th gate and they break Jupiter’s law in their design, the place they will suffer is in that 49th gate; the situation will lead to rejection or divorce. So look very carefully at the Saturn in your chart – because every time that theme appears as a difficult phenomenon in your life, you know then that you have broken your own laws. Saturn will always punish you in the same place, both unconsciously and consciously. Moreover, although it is Jupiter that can bring you rewards, Saturn makes you feel very good inside. When Saturn does not judge you, life really seems to be a thrill.

There is so much that has been written and said about Saturn. It has a powerful grasp on our imagination. So often it is seen as a dark force, the old devil, the shadow, the judge. Its cycle of 28.6 years around the Sun has for most of Human existence restricted our life cycle and compressed our experience. Since the discovery of Uranus in 1781 we have lived in the new Uranian cycle of 84 years, and the hold of Saturn on our collective life is changing. Its new role has yet to be clearly established. Much of human consciousness still responds to the old Saturnian cycle.

Uranus – Chaos and Order

Lying at the heart of the Human Design revelation is Uranus, the great sky God, father of Cronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). Of all of the planets that impact on us in Design, none is closer in spirit to our nature and process than Uranus. Since the moment of Uranus’ discovery in 1781 the quality of life on this planet for our species has improved at an astonishing rate. The Uranian cycle of 84 years has become a universally attainable human longevity standard.

In the mysticism of matrixes, the ancient seven chakra format evolving for millennia, transformed into a nine-centered Rave with Uranus’ discovery. Humanity as a whole has not yet adapted to this new cycle. Evolution takes time. The flowering of this transition will come in hundreds of years with the arrival of the Aquarian Age. Culturally we are still paying lip service to the old Saturnian cycle of 28.6 years. We are still being conditioned to know our place in society by the time we leave our teens. Rather than 14, the Rave half-life is between 38-44 years. The so called ‘boomer’ generation born after World War II is seen as an anomaly because of its slowness to mature, rather than being seen as the vanguard of the new developmental cycle that it is.

There are many cliches regarding Uranus in analysis, its ‘unusualness’, ‘electricity’ etc. It is however the first planet we cannot see with the naked eye. Thus it is not an easy thing to label this force accurately. What is clear about Uranus is that it does not belong to the Saturnian realm. If it is behaving within the constraints of the Saturnian reality, it is only an illusion, quickly broken when it insists on distancing itself from the rules. As the original sky God, it can see itself above all rules. This is not a quality to be confused with rebellion, a theme often tagged to Uranus. The creation of form out of chaos is the Uranian medium. Uranus needs ‘chaos’ as its muse.

Neptune – Illusion and Spirituality

Neptune is the eighth planet from our Sun. It takes a full 165 years for Neptune to transit around the zodiac. Thus in our lifetimes, we never get to experience the full potential of Neptune’s programming. Along with Pluto, these two outer planets are generational planets. Neptune can activate a single gate for over three years, and everyone born during those years will collectively hold a certain key within humanity’s larger evolution. This is why the deepest potential of Neptune is so spiritual; because it allows us the possibility to glimpse that our lives are in fact writing the story of evolution itself.

Because we cannot see the end of the story, Neptune also has many other implications and qualities. Neptune places a veil over the future and fires our imagination to try and pierce that veil. However, Neptune demands we surrender to the greater mystery, and when we do not, it can bring great confusion and delusion to our lives. Neptune makes us wonder ‘why: and then leaves us to swim in its depths. If we cannot let go of trying to answer the why, we can get lost in the illusions and murkiness of those depths.

In Greek-Roman mythology, Neptune was the great god of the Sea. However, in Human Design terms, this Sea represents a far more yin quality and Neptune colors the gates and lines that it touches within a design with this feminine power. In analysis, the Design Neptune is a direct inheritance from the grandmothers. In genetic terms, it is well known that we have more in common with our grandparents than with our parents. Neptune represents the continuity and depths of the genetic pool.

Pluto – Truth

Pluto is the ninth planet from the Sun. It takes 248.54 years to circle the zodiac and can stay in a single gate for an average of just under 4 years. Pluto is by tradition the god of the underworld, and its discovery in 1930 has coincided with the flowering of the science of Psychology. Pluto brings the forces of the unconscious to the surface. It represents rebirth and brings intensity to the gate that it activates in a chart. Because Pluto will not complete its full conscious revolution of the zodiac until a time in the 22nd century, there is much that we cannot yet know about this energy. For people born before 1930, Pluto operates at an entirely unconscious level. Because Pluto remains so long in a gate, it has a very deep impact on the whole planet.

Like Neptune, Pluto also has an association with the Yin energies. Pluto is also akin to a Grandmother, and at the mythological level can be associated with the dark faces of the Goddess such as Lilith, Kali or the archetype of the crone. As Grandma, Pluto is delicious. Let’s say you are a child and you go to your mother and you ask: “How are babies made?” Well, she coughs and goes to the refrigerator and changes the subject. You walk out of the house knowing that you will not get a straight answer from her. Later on that same day, you go and visit your grandma and you ask her that same question and she scares the hell out of you because she tells you the truth. This is the whole thing to understand about the nature of Pluto. Pluto will always tell you the truth. Wherever you see Pluto in your chart, this really is your Truth and it is a whole lifetime process to be able to explore that Truth.

The other side of Pluto is about darkness. Pluto requires that we each go down into our own dark side in order to find our own Truth. This is not the spirituality and potential delusion of Neptune. Wherever you see Pluto in your design that is a dark place within yourself that you must eventually meet.